On November 11, 2016, the training for assessors of medical accreditation was successfully held in Guangzhou. Mr. Wang Qiming, director of the Agriculture, Forestry and Medical Education division of the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, and more than 60 assessors from Australia and China participated in the training.
At the beginning, Professor Wen Mingang, vice president of Southern Medical University, as the representative of the organizer of the training, expressed sincere welcome to the leaders, experts and colleagues on behalf of all the teachers, students and staff of Southern Medical University. With the background of “Double Top Universities” and “Outline of constructing Healthy China by 2030”, Mr. Wang Qiming delivered a speech on the development direction of medical education reform, emphasizing that it is of vital importance to complete the first round of clinical medical accreditation before 2020. Prof. Wang Weimin, deputy secretary-general of the Working Committee for the Accreditation of Medical Education expressed his sincere gratitude to Australian Medical Council (AMC) for its long-term support for China’s medical accreditation and sincere thanks to assessors at home and abroad for their input and efforts in the first round of accreditation.
With the theme of improving the quality of medical education through accreditation, Professor David Ellwood from Griffith University introduced the situation of the accreditation in Australia, including accreditation organization, purpose, policies, standards and procedures. And he elaborated on the continuous improvement after the accreditation.
With the theme of evaluation of internal and external quality assurance, Professor Pete Ellis from University of Otago expressed his own views on the core evaluation points, methods, criteria and problems and challenges in the evaluation process, and expressed his thoughts on the establishment of the evaluation team.
Professor Wen Liyang stressed the role of accreditation to promote the construction of the school's internal quality assurance system. Professor Wen listed the relevant items in the 2008 edition of Standards for Basic Medical Education in China showing requirements for schools to set up the internal quality assurance system. By summarizing the main problems found in the accreditation practices, Professor Wen proposed basic requirements and main procedures for the internal quality assurance system.
With the theme of the revision guideline of standards for basic medical education in China and Comparisons with the previous version, Professor Wang Weimin from Peking University Health Science Center introduced the principles, references and process of the revision of 2016 edition of Standards for Basic Medical Education in China. The changes compared with the previous edition were highlighted and the new concepts of international medical education was elaborated.
Based on the latest trends of international medical education research, Prof. Wendy Hu from School of Medicine of University of Western Sydney introduced the concept and classification of medical educators, interpreted the development and challenges of medical education experts and groups, and proposed key points of implementing evaluations that educational experts should follow.
Professor Richard Hays from University of Tasmania, with the theme of “best practices of student assessment”, emphasized that student assessment should be in accordance with the performance of graduates and the curriculum system, introduced the functions of formative evaluations and summative evaluations, and raised spiral curriculum as an example to summarize the main points that the assessment should focus on.
In the exchange session, the experts expressed their opinions and discussed in depth the similarities and differences of the medical accreditation in China and Australia, and the curriculum design and connotation of medical education. This training further promoted the close connection of medical accreditations between two countries. A platform was established for mutual learning among medical education experts at home and abroad.
